Many personal computers employ the configuration illustrated by the personal computer 10 in FIG. 1 of the drawings. A computer of this type includes a computer process unit 11 that is connected to a keyboard unit 12, a cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor unit 14, and a printer unit 16. Process unit 11 has a keyboard port 13, a monitor port 15, and a printer port 17; these ports are connected to keyboard 12, monitor 14, and printer 16 by cables 22, 24 and 26, respectively. Typical personal computers of the kind illustrated by device 10 are the PC, AT and XT computers manufactured by IBM Corporation. Many other manufacturers utilize the same basic configuration. The interconnections between the individual units may be physically different, but the same basic connections are provided.
There has been and is a continuing desire and need by many users and owners to employ their computers as communication terminals. There have also been a number of proposed solutions to the problems presented in the use of a computer for communication purposes. In most instances, conversions of computers for communication operations have connected a serial interface circuit into the bus connectors within the computer process unit. This arrangement is generally illustrated in FIG. 1 by the device 28, shown mounted in the computer process unit 11. Device 28 is usually an RS232 port, which can be connected directly to another computer or may be connected through a modem 29 to a telephone, telex, or other communication network as represented by the communication line 30. In some instances the modem may be combined with the serial port in a circuit mounted in the housing of the computer process unit.
To make either of these configurations work properly, some level of software programming is required for the computer process unit 11. In some instances the software is provided on diskettes and utilized in conventional manner by the computer process unit. In other conversion arrangements, the software is included in the conversion apparatus comprising the serial port and modem added to the computer process unit.
Virtually all of these existing communications adaptations for computers require that the computer process unit housing be opened and that some level of hardware and system modifications be effected inside the computer process unit. This requires a level of system knowledge that the user of the computer frequently does not have and also creates the possibility of appreciable setup problems. Thus, these are not turnkey systems applied to a computer or other computer system by simple plug-in procedures. These previously known solutions may be awkward to carry out, are likely to be poorly adapted to use with different computers, and may be far from "user friendly" as regards changeover between communications operations and normal uses of the computer. Furthermore, performance of the modified computer as a communication terminal may fall short of that available with even a relatively simple "intelligent" telecommunication transceiver.